Broadneck gets its revenge on South River in physical opener
South River football had its glory at Broadneck’s expense twice in the past two years.
But on Friday night, the Bruins finally got their turn.
Broadneck got the better of its Edgewater rival to win a physical, flag-ridden opener 42-7 to kick off the most unusual four-week season.
Junior quarterback Josh Ehrlich remembers all of the past.
A rivalry brewed two years ago, when South River knocked unbeaten Broadneck from the playoffs. It deepened when the
Seahawks made the Bruins just another “W” during an unbeaten regular season in 2019. He won’t forget this either.
“It feels really good after losing the last two times we played them,” said Ehrlich, who was 16-for-28 with 112 yards and two passing touchdowns. “It feels good to put them back in their place and go back on top again.”
Bruins coach Rob Harris watched sadness creep over his players as their regular fall 2020 season got delayed and delayed, then canceled and reinstated.
Seeing them hollering, streaking across their field with victorious joy as the wait finally ended felt too good.
“This is what it’s about,” Harris said. “These high school kids had a chance to experience what they wanted to experience. It’s been a long time — November of 2019, 16 months. And they got to be with their friends.”
The Bruins jumped on the very young Seahawks squad early, but penalties forced the hosts to go for a field goal on their first possession. Ryan Della made the kick, his first of two on the night, to put the Bruins up 3-0.
But Broadneck had more planned for its most heated rival.
Ehrlich shepherded his team downfield until, from 5 yards out, he locked onto Eli Harris and gave him his first varsity touchdown. A penalty called the initial extra point back, so instead the Bruins went for two and got it to go up 11-0 early in the second.
After a fruitless three minutes for
South River, a more experienced Bruin grabbed the spotlight — senior Rashid Proctor (8 carries, 60 yards) scored a 2-yard touchdown to give Broadneck an 18-0 lead.
Proctor wasn’t done. The running back took Ehrlich’s handoff from the 39-yard line and sprinted toward the end zone, no Seahawks on his flank. His score bumped Broadneck’s lead to 24-0.
And if that wasn’t enough scoring for either team’s taste, junior Kyle Pierce collected a 25-yard Bruins touchdown a minute later.
All the while, penalty flags rained down. South River coach Ed Dolch reckons the innumerable penalties called probably got in his players’ heads. Seahawks players walked the sidelines, crackling with emotions after flags were called.
“Coming over here, this was our first test with a really young group and we ran into a really talented team,” said Dolch, who had most of his team, including the starting quarterback, graduate last year.
“We’ve got to learn from this, and minimizing penalties and being more disciplined is going to be a part of the learning process.”
Harris noted the endless sea of penalties, pinned on both teams seemingly on every play, but said that’s to be expected generally when teams don’t get preseason games.
Penalties aside, the Broadneck coach credited South River’s defense for giving his team trouble between flags.
“South River did a great job with some of their pressure packages,” Harris said. “They caused us to feel uncomfortable. I’m happy to how our kids responded to that.”
Likewise, Harris credited his own defense, which took down South River’s new starting quarterback Cam Catterton on a halfdozen sacks.. The Bruins also picked up a fumble recovery, and junior Sammy Frias made his triumphant return from a Week 1 shoulder injury in 2019 to pick off Catterton.
The Seahawks’ desire to get on the board, at least, was palpable out of halftime. Sophomore tight end Garret Bates made that wish come true as he snagged Catterton’s catch from 4 yards away and scored the only South River touchdown to make it 32-7.
But Broadneck didn’t get that far just to not score on the team that gave it so much grief these past two years some more.
First, Ehrlich threw a 19-yard pass that landed in the hands of sophomore Machi Evans, his first varsity touchdown. Then Della nailed his second field goal, a 24-yarder.
“The young guys played well,” Ehrlich said. “Machi Evans and Eli Harris got their first varsity touchdowns, so that’s big. Older guys stepped up too. Our whole line played well.”
South River came to Broadneck without film, with practices that couldn’t mimic a regular season’s. But perfection wasn’t what Dolch wanted from his guys.
Catterton marched his Seahawks downfield and very nearly scored a touchdown to get the last word in; Bruins defenders instead chased him out in the red zone.
“There was a lot stacked against these guys,” Dolch said. “All we asked them to do coming over here as a young group with thin numbers was play hard to the final whistle, stick together and stay positive.
“We’re going to continue to get better week to week.”